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State: Hinsdale water dept needs more space

By DOMENIC POLI / Reformer Staff

Posted:
12/12/2012 03:00:00 AM EST

Wednesday December 12, 2012

HINSDALE, N.H. -- The N.H. Department of Environmental Services last month reported space for water department records, administrative offices and equipment at the public works garage is "extremely limited and additional space is needed."

The garage, which also contains the highway department, is one of three town buildings on the same parcel of land on River Road. The others are the wastewater treatment plant and the Hinsdale Police Station, which has used the temporary facility since the 1980s. The police have been in need of a new station for years.

The Police Station Building Committee previously recommended the new building be constructed next to the spot that holds the current facility. But Hinsdale resident Lewis Major has since offered to donate his property at 8-10 Main St. to develop a new station and two public hearings were scheduled to get input on the matter from town citizens.

Town Administrator Jill Collins has previously said the town would like to purchase the former veterinary clinic next door to Major’s building for $38,000 to $39,000 so the police station would have more space to expand. She said the demolition of the two current buildings should cost about $55,000 to $57,000 and the Hinsdale Highway Department would conduct the ground work and set up the site. She also said demolition of a small building behind the property would likely cost $3,000. Collins said Major’s property is about a half-acre.

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The Hinsdale Planning Board last week made a recommendation to the town’s Board of Selectmen to accept the donation for the purposes of building a new police station.

Selectman Mike Darcy said expansion for the public works garage would not be a problem if the new police station was built on Main Street, which is the main objective right now.

The DES recommended Hinsdale address the garage’s limited space in addition to considering back-up power for the pumps and treatment equipment at the Glen Street station, finding a means to feed water from North Hinsdale from the village in emergencies, and implementing the water main replacement projects listed in the Capital Improvements Plan.

The DES’ sanitary survey -- signed by Daniel Dudley, an engineer with the Drinking Water and Groundwater Bureau -- acknowledged the town had completed significant improvements in the water system over the past decade and is nearing completion of a well replacement project in North Hinsdale. It was stated that water quality monitoring records show the Hinsdale water systems "are in compliance with all current health-related quality standards, including the action level for lead and copper."

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